I have been pretty excited of late because I noticed that Netflix now has the first season of seaQuest DSV to watch online. I used to love this show, and with the passing of Roy Scheider, I think it’s only fitting to talk about this show. As I said, I adored this show. It was science fiction, but it was set right here on Earth. All those fantastical creatures and hidden wonders, all beneath the sea; and plus talking dolphins, what girl doesn’t love that! I have many fond memories of watching this show. Sadly, it never seemed to find its footing. I recently read a letter that J. Michael Straczynski wrote to one of the producers of seaQuest regarding this matter. In it, he talks about the lack of a show runner being a problem, meaning that the show had no one particular voice. Instead, it went in all too many different directions, ghost stories, aliens, eco-terrorists. Looking back, I realized he had a point. I mean all the great shows I’ve loved have had a person with a great vision in mind, whether it was Firefly or
Babylon 5 or Star Trek. The fact that the second and third season of seaQuest kept getting re-tooled, with drastic cast and story changes (usually the sign of a show that’s about to get cancelled) seems testimony to Straczynski’s theory. But either way, it’s a show I’ll always hold close to my heart. It could’ve been something great (it certainly had the budget for it!) and all those cast members that are no longer with us, Jonathan Brandis, Royce D. Applegate and Roy Scheider will all be greatly missed.
